Thread: Safety Alert: Walmart Torches.

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We were doing some lighting tests last night with Fred. (more on that later)

And, as I light torches on Halloween, and I had bought some "Mainstays garden" (walmart brand) this year, and the fuel canister system looked quite a bit different than normal ones, I figured we may as well give a couple of those a workout just to see how they go.



Everything was normal, I had the torches lit, was fiddling with the lighting, got it how I liked, and took a bunch of pictures.

I had probably been messing with things for 30-45 minutes. So, I opened the front door, and called my wife and kids. Picked up my baby, and turned around to see one of the mainstays torches with the flame guard in flames.

I set the baby back in, yelled at my wife we had a fire, and shut the door, grabbing the hose.

The flame guard on these is a piece of tin covered with a "flame retardent". However, the "flame retardent" catches fire, somehow. I had unscrewed these flame guards when I filled them, so there is no chance it was some spilt oil.

Anyhow, the fire on the flame guard caught the bamboo aflame. That melted the plastic, which spilt oil on the fire, which made a little bonfire of my lawn.

The charred remains of the pole:





The flame guard, most the "Flame retardent" burnt off, and what remains of the oil canister:




I often get accused of just playing with my toys when I declare I'm out testing things. Most often, that's true. However, I insist on trying anything that is new and/or different. In this case, it's a minor annoyance for me now, but would have been horrific had it happened with hundreds of kids walking through the lawn.

The second one I had lit did not have any problems, as if that is any comfort.

If you've bought some of these, please, strongly consider taking them back. I know I am taking all mine back.

OMG(s) - unorthodox! That is scary ! It is a good thing you test such things like this. Wow,
this could have been a very serious situation. Returning the item is a must. But I think you already know that you need to report it to MAINSTAY manufacter. Ofcourse that doesn't mean they will do anything about it. We found something VERY UNUSUAL ( Rat parts?) in some marinade product last Thanksgiving. We notified the manufactor, the news , FDA...
Pretty much was offered $40.00 to cover the cost of our turkey and product used...and no one was interested. Anyhooo....THANKS FOR THE WARNING. Glad your haunt isn't "cooked".

I would say that bamboo torches in general are very dangerous. Years ago we had one completely catch fire as well - starting burning a bush and all. Since then we have only used metal torches.

Yeah, the bamboo torches can be very dangerous and should never be left unattended when lit. Glad eveyone's ok unorthodox and thanks for the heads up.

Unorthodox, you might want to check out some solar tiki torches; I bought a few last year and wasn't the least bit disappointed. Here's a link to the type I have: Solar Tiki Torch Black, but some other sites also carry bamboo-like ones if that's more like what you're looking for (Heartland America: 2 Pack Solar Tiki Torches). Hope this helps you

If I were to venture a guess, I'd say perhaps the flame guard transferred enough heat to the bamboo to cause it to ignite which in turn got the rest of the fuel going. I'm assuming the fuel tank was the typical plastic. If so a flaming bamboo housing would easily get that going.

Alternatively, the wick could have sucked up enough oil and it spattered onto the guard and caused the same cascade.

Sorry to hear about this. That's pretty scary. I'm glad nobody got hurt and this didn't happen at a more inopportune time.

The only torches I've used before all had the metal fuel canisters, and we've never once had a problem with them in many a year.

This was the first time I've seen, let alone used, one with a plastic oil canister. It's certainly the last time. But, I got to see the thing from the start. And, for whatever reason, that flame guard started fire first. If it was just the wick splattering more oil onto the flame guard, the flame retardent STILL should not have completely flaked off and burnt like it did.

Lamplight farms recalled a bunch 3 years ago for this exact problem, the flame guards catching fire. My best guess is whoever's making these for WalMart is using thier old design.

UnOrthodOx....thanks for this info! Again happy no one was hurt. Pretty scary something catching on fire like that. I have always wanted these torches & Jer came across 7 of them at the flea market & brought them home a couple of weeks ago......I will for sure look at them to see what we have!

I was looking at some torches at Lowes, they have some that are solar powered & they flicker like a real torch, thought that would be a much better idea in using them for halloween or on my wooden deck. I think they were $50.00 for 4. I'm always afraid of a real flame when those TOT's are around cause anything could happen!

Thanks so much for the info!!

CYLON>>>>>>that marinade story is far to scary!!!

Muf

Wow how scary, glad to hear no one was burned. I was at a graduation party and they had table top tikis that caught on fire. They went up so fast it was unbelievable.

Wow, that is crazy indeed. I'm glad, as everyone else, that it didn't happen when more people were around.

Personally, I am 100% fire-free in my haunt. There is just too much potential for so much to go wrong. It is definitely a bummer having to use all artificial candles and torches, but the safety issue just scares the heck out of me.

Liam